A-Level student's £16,000 scholarship 'saved' by U-turn

Ashton Sixth Form A-Level student Jess Johnson says she is 'thankful and excited' after fearing she would lose out on a £16,000 scholarship following this year's results.

The government U-turn on Monday means her assessed A grade in English will now be re-instated after she was downgraded to a B, which had also cost her a place at St Andrew’s University.  

The 18-year-old from Stalybridge is hopeful that, after initially being rejected on the basis of the result, the reversal will mean she can now go after all.

“I think it would have been unfair if Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales made the change, so I’m very glad,” said Jess. 

But she questioned why it had taken so long to make the change which was announced on Monday following nationwide criticism after last Thursday’s results.

Jess added that the wait had caused ‘a lot of stress and anxiety’.

The reversal of the results means Jess has now gained three A*s and an A - her results predicted via the college’s own teaching assessment.

The English literature student was awarded the prestigious Orwell Youth Prize during her first year at Ashton Sixth Form.

The entry she submitted was chosen as a stand out piece and she was successfully awarded the Orwell Youth Prize in the Senior Category.

Jessica’s short story ‘A Band Apart’ was recognised among more than 100 entries. 

Ironically her story focused on meritocracy and the education system in a dystopian short story not dissimilar to this year’s A-Level fiasco, leading her to state that she had literally ‘fallen into her own story’ and become a victim herself of it.

Denton and Reddish MP Andrew Gwynne had completely co-incidentally himself described the algorithm initially used to grade this year’s A-Level results ‘dystopian’.

You can read Jess’ fascinating and equally disturbing award winning story online at https://www.orwellfoundation.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/A-Band-Apart.pdf 

'A positive step but there are issues still to resolve'

Principal at Ashton Sixth Form, Anton McGrath (pictured below), also welcomed the government’s U-turn on Monday, having been dismayed by the results Ofqual had returned.

“The decision taken by the Department for Education and Ofqual to recognise the injustice served to A level students is welcome,” he told the Tameside Reporter.

“Many students at the college were subject to this arbitrary process to decide their futures which was clearly wrong. 

“It is a positive step that the hard work of these students has finally been recognised and the worry and additional stress has lessened. 

“There are still issues to resolve with university entrance for a number of our students, but we hope that the universities will honour first choice places as they have been encouraged to do.”

'Well done to young people for taking a stand' 

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham (pictured below), who had even threatened legal action on behalf of students, stated: “I am relieved for the thousands of young people in Greater Manchester whose lives have been turned upside down by the blatant unfairness we saw from Ofqual and the Government.

“We had witnessed five days of digging in from the exams regulator and Ministers. Young people in that time were put through the mill. They were confronted with profound unfairness on Thursday - everyone could see it.

“Without those young people making their voices heard this change would not have happened, so well done to them all. They took a stand, spoke up loudly and in unison and can celebrate the exam results they earned and deserve.

“I had threatened legal action on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and I did write to Ofqual, but it is not yet clear to me that the situation regarding BTECs has been satisfactorily resolved. 

“These are the students who are often the most forgotten, and we need urgent clarification on this important point.

“Overall, this is good news for A-level students. But there remains much to be resolved, with many young people forced last week into making choices they did not want to have to make, including resorting to clearing or even deferring a year of study. 

“Government and universities now need to work together to honour the offers that young people were given; if students got the grades they should be able to go.”

Main image:

Jessica Johnson, who is still hoping she can go to St Andrew’s University.